The present invention relates to a new and improved method of, and apparatus for, the storage and mixing of blood samples or specimens to enable automatic blood analysis thereof.
When accomplishing automated blood analysis or hemanalysis, it is to be appreciated that after having attained a certain degree of automation, the blood samples must be delivered in an automated fashion to the automatic blood analysis device or blood analyzer. Of course, it must be recognized that blood constitutes an exceedingly delicate substance so that it must be handled with extreme care. Hence, whole blood which is to be analyzed must not be permitted to stand around for a longer period of time, since then the blood may stratify. On the other hand, the blood should not be vigorously agitated or moved, for instance forcefully shaken, since in that case the delicate blood cells can become damaged. Since it is well known in this technology that, in particular, whole blood must be handled with an exceedingly great amount of care or quite protectively, there have been developed appropriate apparatuses, especially apparatuses or devices for the mixing, or even more precisely stated, for the moving of the blood before it is delivered to the blood analyzer. However, as a general rule, neither the blood movement patterns or behavior during mixing of the blood nor the equipment which has been developed for such purpose, are suitable for integration into an automated blood handling and analyzing line or arrangement. This is so because of the existence of the various required transition locations or positions, for instance spanning the location where the blood samples are mixed to the location of taking or drawing of the blood samples. Such transition locations have heretofore been frequently designed at the expense of mechanical compromises in the equipment construction and are neither satisfactory from either the standpoint of speed of operation nor operational integrity or security.